by T. K. Perry
Lexi scowled at the image Cercy had created in her mind and began pulling pins from her hair, flinging them irritably on the floor.
“I hope you enjoy picking those up as much as you’re enjoying flinging them,” Cercy said, returning to the room.
“Some maid you are,” Lexi complained with a feeble grin as she bent and retrieved them.
“Quit moping and climb into bed. I’ll wake you up when your father is free,” Cercy commanded, turning down the lights.
“My mother is going to come marching in here any moment,” Lexi argued as she lay down on her stomach, cradling her pillow under her head.
“I imagine Talan has already informed her of your wing birth, and she’ll wait until her guests have gone to their rooms for the night to come assure herself that you know your duty.”
“I know my duty. I always know my duty.”
Cercy smiled to herself as she pulled the adjoining door shut. “Good night, Your Highness,” she whispered.
An hour later the door banged open and all the lights came on. “I thought we agreed you would tell me as soon as you had back pain,” the Queen declared, sweeping into the room.
Lexi blinked sleepily at the bright lights. “Talan didn’t tell you?”
“Not until after the concert,” the Queen said irritably, waving a beautifully-manicured hand. “It certainly would have helped to have known why you were fidgeting around so badly during the concert or why you felt you had to rush out in the middle of it and never return.”
“I didn’t have pain then,” Lexi mumbled as she pulled up on all fours, opening and closing her new wings as she yawned. “I didn’t feel any until right before they burst out.”
The Queen’s perfectly-shaped eyebrows drew together. “Talan said you were weak with the pain and that he had to help you to your room. I assume Cercy helped you with the birth?”
A little late, Lexi perceived the service Talan had done her with his lies. “Oh, yes,” she said vaguely. “It was so intense, I suppose I forgot.”
The Queen sniffed. “Well, I’m pleased you managed not to make a spectacle of yourself.”
Lexi could feel the blood flooding to her face, and quickly stood with her back to her mother for an exaggerated stretch.
“Now get dressed. I’ve arranged for a brief meeting with Talan.” The Queen colored slightly, and paused as Lexi turned to look at her. “I do not condone public displays of any kind or even private displays where the parties are not married, but compatible pheromone scents are a good indicator of fertility.” The Queen turned away with a sigh as Lexi suppressed a giggle. “I have asked him to signal you. If the scent is pleasant to you, we will schedule your wedding for tomorrow.”
What an excellent liar Talan must be, Lexi thought as she watched her mother rummage through her wedding trousseau.
“This will be suitable,” her mother said, laying out a teal-green dress with heavy flared skirts extending to the floor.
“That is a winged dress?” Lexi asked, turning it over to see the open back. “It looks too heavy and cumbersome for flying.”
The Queen nodded sagely. “Talan and I discussed that. It is better that you don’t fly. It’s a risk you ought not to be taking.”
Lexi felt as if she had just fallen off Raven, and all the air had been knocked from her lungs. When she finally spoke, it was little more than a squeak. “You’re not going to let me fly?”
A momentary spark of sympathy lit the Queen’s eyes, then went out. “It just isn’t prudent. Meet us in the library in fifteen minutes,” she commanded, then turned and left the room as Cercy entered.
One look into her maid’s eyes made Lexi's fill with tears. “She isn’t going to let me fly.”
Cercy shrugged. “She tried to stop you from riding, too. You’ll find a way around her.”
Lexi walked to the closet and rummaged through the trousseau. “They’re all so heavy and impractical...except for the nightgowns. Did she ever plan to let me fly?”
Cercy shook her head. “I don’t know. But I can tell you it will be no trouble at all to alter your riding clothes for your wings.”
Lexi smiled and swallowed back the tears. “Thanks, Cercy,” she said, hugging her.
“Let’s get you dressed,” Cercy replied gruffly, picking up the teal dress.
“Did you hear how Talan lied for me?” Lexi asked, removing her nightgown.
“Mm-hm...did that awfully well, didn’t he? Makes you wonder how much practice he’s had,” Cercy remarked as she helped Lexi into her dress.
Lexi frowned. “He was protecting me.”
“The truth would have exposed him far more than it would have you. He was protecting himself.”
Lexi drew her dark brows together. “Maybe he lied badly.”
Cercy shook her head. “The Queen is far too shrewd a woman for that. It’s taken you most of your life to learn to fool her.”
“Do you think I could be happy with him, Cercy?”
“Only you can decide that, Your Highness. Shall I put your hair back up?”
Lexi shook her head and sat down as Cercy brushed her hair, then attached a jeweled clip.
“You’ve five minutes to get to the library,” Cercy said, patting her shoulders.
Lexi leaped up. “Then I’d better hurry.”
Chapter Four
The library was a towering room with shelves from floor to ceiling and sliding ladders to access the plethora of books that filled the room with their musty scent. Heavily curtained windows stood guard over the precious occupants, protecting them from destructive sunlight. Soft divans were clustered about the room like grazing sheep. The Queen stood in front of the glass double doors that led into the room, one hand on the door handle, the other smoothing the delicate lines of her aging face.
“You are late,” the Queen announced, immediately dropping her hand as she saw her daughter approach.
“I am sorry, Mother.”
The Queen briefly examined her daughter, then nodded, her hand still on the closed door. “He is inside. Spend a few moments with him, and be certain the scent is pleasing,” she admonished, opening the door and ushering her daughter through.
Talan stood up with a grin as the door shut quietly behind her.
“What a lovely farce you’ve arranged,” Lexi said, noting that Talan was wearing new pants and a matching jacket.
“As you are not honest with your mother, I saw no reason why I should be,” Talan said, signaling.
Lexi inhaled the hickory and clove scent with an involuntary little smile. “Since we’re already being dishonest, maybe I’ll tell her your pheromones are unappealing.
A slight shock of alarm crossed Talan’s face before he replaced it with his usual smug grin. “Then I would have to tell her the truth about this evening’s events in the garden.”
It was Lexi’s turn to feel a little flash of panic. Smoothing her face, she smiled blandly. “Go ahead. I am her daughter. She would forgive me.”
“I doubt that,” Talan replied, looking amused. “But since you don’t seem to want to marry me, let’s consider your other options.” Talan rubbed his chin thoughtfully a moment. “Oh yes, you haven’t any.”
Lexi controlled her expression with great effort; only her eyes burned with fury.
Talan’s expression sobered, and he began to count off his points on his stubby fingers. “I have always treated you well, and I will continue to do so. We are a pheromone match, which should guarantee us children, as well as make our lives much more pleasant. And finally, our parents have already agreed; going against them now would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. I want this marriage. I want you to be my wife. If you run away from me, who will you be running to? What if Chip is the next to come in season? Or Quin?”
Lexi stifled a shudder as her mother opened the door.
“Shall I plan the wedding?” the Queen asked, a slight blush staining her cheeks.
Lexi swallowed, a hollow emptiness
spreading out from her chest. Giving her mother a short nod, she brushed past her and hurried away.
She was sobbing by the time she reached her father’s door. She knocked softly, then held her breath, listening for movement inside. A small, expressionless man opened the door, his dark brown wings seeming more like a misshapen shadow.
“Ambly,” Lexi choked out. “Is he in his rooms?”
Ambly stood aside without answering, and Lexi moved past him. Her father sat at a little table with cards scattered across the top of it, looking expectantly towards the door.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, jumping off his stool and dropping more cards on the table. His forehead wrinkled up in concern and he held out his arms as Lexi ran to him. Her sobs redoubled at the kindness, and Ambly quietly withdrew to another room as they embraced. The King let her cry without answering his question.
“You got my wings,” he said happily, waving his own.
Lexi nodded into his shirt and then reluctantly pulled away to face him. “Father, I don’t want to marry Talan.”
“Why not?” the King asked, assuming a business-like tone as he sat her down on Ambly’s abandoned stool at the card table.
“I don’t like him.”
“Why not? List his crimes.” Her father's turquoise eyes twinkling with humor as he took his seat and folded his hands together.
A tiny smile crossed Lexi’s tear-stained face and disappeared. “When he was eight, he kicked my dog because she wouldn’t play fetch with him.”
Her father grinned at the pettiness of the “crime,” and Lexi’s own mouth curved into a smile.
“And when he was twelve, he killed a whole family of robins with a rock before you made him stop.”
The King scowled. “I remember that.”
“When he was sixteen, he picked a fight with Tiger and broke his nose. And this morning,” Lexi hesitated just a moment before she rushed forward with the truth. “This morning, I was riding Raven wearing Tiger’s old clothes, and Talan pulled me off her back and threw me on the ground.”
The King sucked in his breath sharply, a dark look of fury clouding his face.
“He didn’t recognize me,” she added quickly.
“That’s no excuse! Did he hurt you?”
Lexi slid up her sleeve and showed him the bruises, then lifted her skirt to display the matching set on her knees. “He keeps apologizing, but he would have been perfectly happy about it if it had been Tiger or another servant. And he says he won’t have me making friends with the servants when I’m his wife. And he and Mother don’t even want me to fly,” Lexi finished, her voice quavering as fresh tears threatened to fall. She put her hands to her eyes as if to plug her tear ducts. “Oh, and he’s been lying to Mother and she can’t seem to tell.”
“About what?”
“He signaled me even before my wing birth, and he told Mother he hadn’t. She even set up a meeting in the library just now, so he could signal me and make sure we were compatible.” One corner of Lexi’s mouth turned up. “Mother was embarrassed.”
The King cleared his throat and ducked his head, but his shaking wings gave away his laughter.
“And he lied about my wing birth, too,” Lexi said, not able to stop the truth that kept spouting from her mouth, despite her embarrassment. “He was with me when it happened,” she confessed, her eyes on her hands.
“Why would he lie about that?”
Lexi grimaced and hid her face.
“Something else I won’t like,” he guessed, and Lexi nodded miserably without uncovering her face.
“Mother is already planning the wedding,” she continued, speaking into her hands. “Even if I told her all this, I think she would still insist I marry him.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would she do that?”
Lexi let her hands drop. “Remember the ‘something else’ that I didn’t want to tell you? Talan will tell. He already threatened to tell her.”
The King took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “So if you don’t marry him, it’s going to come out?”
Lexi nodded, her face stricken.
“You’re not going to marry him, Lexi, so it’s best you tell me now.”
Lexi let out a sigh. “We...could you not look at me?” Lexi paused while the King dropped his head and lifted a hand to block his view. “We were kissing when my wing birth started,” she said in a strangled whisper. “He had to tear my dress apart; Mother had Cercy sew me into it.”
“Oh.” They were silent for a time, neither one looking at the other. “I think you are right; she will insist.”
Lexi put her forehead down on the table. “Am I being unreasonable? I am attracted to him. It would be easier to just marry him. And if Mother won’t let me wait for another noble to come into season, what choice do I have?”
The King sat up straighter on his stool. “Lexi, do you want to be a Princess?”
Lexi looked up at her father. “I want to be your daughter.”
The King patted her hand. “You’ll always be my daughter. But do you want to be a Princess?”
Lexi was quiet for a moment. “No.”
A new excitement lit her father’s face. “I didn’t want to be a prince.”
Lexi blinked rapidly. “What?”
“When my wing birth came, I left my father a note abdicating my throne, and flew off to the Mating Mountain to start my new life.”
Lexi let out a shocked laugh.
“I met your mother there. She’s a farmer’s daughter. After she agreed to marry me, I told her who I was, and she insisted we come back here. She talked my father out of disowning me, got him to reinstate me as his heir, and now I’m king.”
Lexi’s mouth hung open, all humor gone.
“We made up a story about her being a noble from a distant land, and me traveling to her father’s estate after our parents had arranged the marriage by letter. She’s such a good queen that no one ever doubts it.”
Bewildered, Lexi got up and began to wander aimlessly around the large room.
“You asked what choice you have...you can make the same choice as your parents. You can go to the Mating Mountain and marry someone you love. If you want to come back here, I will always welcome you.”
Lexi stopped abruptly. “But what about a male heir to your throne?”
The King shrugged. “Your cousin can be the next king.”
“But Mother said...”
“It’s natural for her to want one of her descendants to sit on the throne. But as I will be dead, I doubt it will matter to me. Your cousin is capable; as long as he marries well, he’ll be a good leader. And with some luck, I’ll live longer than most, and you won’t have to determine my heir for another twenty years,” he finished, looking at his daughter with a grin.
Lexi bounded to her father and hugged him, then grew thoughtful. “If Cercy helps me, can you keep Mother from firing her?”
The King grimaced. “What help do you need?”
“Something I can fly in, and everything I’ll need for the trip.”
Chuckling to himself, the King jumped up from his stool and fairly skipped to his dressing room. Lexi followed him, watching him push hanging clothing aside and remove the wall panel behind. Old hinges creaked loudly as her father drew a bag out of the chest hidden there, then spun around to show her.
“I kept it,” he said, grinning.
“Was this yours?”
The King shook his head. “No. It was your mother’s. Open it.”
With a look of wonder, Lexi took the faded leather bag from her father and unbuckled the straps. Inside was a metal canteen covered in spotted cowhide, and several articles of red clothing. Lexi pulled out a ruffled shirt and held it up.
“She sewed all of her clothes herself.” He fingered the ruffles with a nostalgic smile. “She asked me to burn it all, but I couldn’t do it. You’re taller than your mother, but hopefully they’ll still fit.” He crossed the room to rummage through a gilded
bureau before drawing out a large wad of money. “You can buy whatever else you need,” he said, stuffing it into a side pocket of the bag.
Lexi put the shirt back into the bag with an absent air.
“So I’ll just show up at the mountain and say: ‘Hi, I’m the youngest of the triplet princesses. Would any of you like to sire a king?’”
The King chuckled and put a hand on her shoulder. “Lexi, you can be anyone you want to be. I only ask that you keep your mother’s secret. If it had not been so tied up in my own secret, I would not have told you.”
Lexi nodded, then grinned. “So I’m a farmer’s granddaughter, but I can’t tell anyone?”
“It could be your new identity,” he suggested. “You could be Lexi Viceroy, the farmer’s granddaughter.”
“A viceroy? That would still make me a noble.”
Her father reached up to run a hand along her left forewing. “The problem is these big, beautiful monarch wings. They’re very distinctive. You could claim to be a fritillary, but only a fool would believe you.”
“Who did you tell them you were?”
“Chip Viceroy, the illegitimate grandson of the last governor.”
The volume of Lexi’s laughter surprised her, and she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.
“Before that unpleasant young man of the same name was born, of course.”
“But didn’t the governor mind?” Lexi asked, still giggling.
The King shook his head. “It was his idea. It gave him an excuse to keep a close eye on me.”
Lexi grew thoughtful. “Well, I obviously can’t be Limen’s illegitimate granddaughter, since we’re nearly the same age.”
“But he is your brother-in-law, so he should feel obligated to help you.”
“I should ask Mona if she wants me to carry a letter to him.”
“No! The fewer people you involve the better. Your mother will be very angry when she realizes you’re gone. I want the blame to fall on only one person: me.”
Lexi looked down at the bag in her hands with a frown. “I don’t want to cause strife between you. Maybe you should put it back,” she said, holding the bag out to him.
“So that you can marry the elitist fool who threw you off a horse, blackmailed you, broke your best friend’s nose, won’t let you fly, and would never condone the relationship you have with Cercy?”
